Clinical Trial for Laparoscopic D2 Gastrectomy

Objectives of this study was to determine whether laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) with complete D2 lymph node dissection for gastric cancer is a safe and effective surgical option. Methods: total 64 patients, who are diagnosed preoperatively as having T1-2, N0-1 or M0 gastric cancer, will be prospectively enrolled to undergo LADG with D2 lymph node dissection; two surgeons with experience of over 50 cases of laparoscopic gastrectomy performed the procedures. The compliance rate, defined as cases with no more than one missing lymph node station according to the Japanese Research Society of Gastric Cancer (JRSGC) lymph node grouping, for the open gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection was 66.0% in a pilot study and was used for calculations of sample size. Compliance rate and other surgical outcomes, including the number of retrieved lymph nodes from each lymph node station, morbidities, mortalities and conversion rate will be analyzed.